Dhawan to miss final ODI to tend to his ailing mother

Shikhar Dhawan won't participate in the remaining two matches of India's limited-overs assignment of the Sri Lanka tour as he will fly back home to tend to his ailing mother, BCCI announced on Saturday (September 2).

"Mr. Shikhar Dhawan would be leaving for India tomorrow i.e. September 3rd to see his ailing mother. Mr. Dhawan's mother is stable and is recovering well at the moment," BCCI stated in a media release while adding that the selectors will not name a replacement.

During the series, captain Virat Kohli had indicated that Ajinkya Rahane's role in the team is that of a third opener. With Dhawan set to leave, Rahane is likely to replace the left-hander for the remainder of the tour while the experiments with KL Rahul in the middle order might continue. India's tour of Sri Lanka is nearing its completion with one ODI on September 3 and the lone T20I on September 6 being the last two assignments for the team.

Dhawan had a good run in this tour, coming up with two centuries in the Test series. He scored an unbeaten 132 and 49 in the first two ODIs before falling for single-digit scores in the other two. Rahane scored a half-century and came up with a knock of 132 in the Tests. This was after his successful tour of the Caribbean where he amassed 336 runs, including a century and three fifties in successive innings.

Having achieved a clean-sweep in the three-match Test series, India are on the verge of another whitewash having a 4-0 lead in the ODIs heading into the final game on Sunday.